Katayama Chronicles: Express to the Stars
by Mercotus
Summary: Dealing with Underworld problems is considered to be routine for the Katayama family, but when an evil from the far reaches of the Galaxy returns with some demonic help, the family realize this problem is anything but routine. Based on Billy & Mandy, Bleedman's 'Grim Tales' and Galaxy Express 999.
1. Chapter 1

_Any character not earmarked as OC is owned by their respective owners._

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Ch. 1 "The Meeting"

Talking to the principal one week into the year was not what Grim and Mandy had in mind. They were hoping that, for once, nothing went wrong in their lives. Unfortunately, they were wrong about that and they now found themselves driving to the school, trying to get out of the usual traffic associated with the end of the school day.

"Shame." commented Grim. "I thought we where going to make it this time."

"Guess you owe me... how much did we wager?" Mandy asked casually.

"$20 I believe." Mandy then put her hand out, a playful smirk on her face.

"Wait until I parked the car!" he replied laughing. Mandy grinned as they pulled into the school parking lot.

"Let's try to keep this civil, shall we?" she asked in the same casual tone.

"If you count checking the supernatural 'civil', then yes."

"Roxie picked the kids up, right?"

"Yeah, she did. I called before I picked you up." As they checked in with the office, the principal arrived. He was older looking than Grim and Mandy with his short black hair slowly turning gray. The brown jacket and yellow shirt went well with his gray pants. He motioned for Grim and Mandy to follow him into his office without a word, his expression a bit blank.

Once in the office, the principal adjusted himself in his chair and presented the report he typed earlier, his face slightly flustered Ashe gave it a once over. Grim and Mandy read the report in silence, their eyes moving carefully over what was being presented to them. When they were done, the principal cleared his throat.

"Mr. and Mrs. Katayama, I do apologize for calling you in so early in the year, but after what has happened..." he went silent, apparently thinking hard about what to say next. "...Today, I feel that certain measures must be taken." he finished at last. Grim gave a small smile, as if what happened was in good spirit. He wore a dark colored suit with a deep red colored tie and black shoes, which complemented his brown hair, but contradicted his bright blue eyes.

"Well, I understand that what happened was... not something you would be anticipating from students causing trouble. I understand!" he chuckled. "Those two are always getting into some sort of trouble."

"Quite so." agreed Mandy. She was sitting next to Grim and was wearing a dark blue jacket and skirt with heels. On top of her long blond hair was a black headband, which carried an unnatural sparkle that seemed to give her gray eyes more color than what they really had.

"Well," began the principal. "I understand how much you love them, but for the sake of this school, and legal affairs, I would like to ask about what they do in their spare time." Grim and Mandy gave him looks of suspicion. The principal looked at their expressions and sighed. "Mr. and Mrs. Katayama, do you _really_ expect me to dismiss the fact that, somehow, your children came under the possession of two... interesting weapons to supposedly defend not only themselves, but the entire school from some supposed... demon?"

"Yes." they both answered in unison.

"Sorry, but I must know." He took his pen, grabbed a piece of paper and looked up at the Katayamas. "Well?"

"Um..." Grim and Mandy looked at each for a moment. How on earth where they going to explain that the twins are the children of Death and Evil? The two of them then asked if they could have something to write down on, claiming that they needed to get their facts straight first. Puzzled, the principal gave them a pen, some paper and a clipboard.

"Well..." began Mandy tentatively as she and Grim took turns reading their notes. "Junior..." And soon principal started to write what Mandy and Grim said, only stopping to ask questions like,

"What kind of works has Minnie performed in?" and "How does Junior manage his time?" Those questions and more where all met with curt replies. After several productive minutes, the principal read the list over to Grim and Mandy and gave his observation of it.

"Based this list, it appears that Junior is very active in learning and is a fine athlete overall. He spends his time with classmates and is thoughtful about others. Minnie prefers to dabble in the arts and is excellent with time management. She appears to be very caring and protective of her brother." The principal then looked at the Katayamas with a confused look on his face.

"Something the matter, sir?" asked Grim.

"Not really. It's just that based on everything you told me, Junior and Minnie do nothing I would consider to be destructive or negative. In fact, they appear to be good examples of talented, caring twins! I just don't know what to do now..."

"May I suggest something?"

"Why of course, Mr. Katayama."

"If it is all right with you, may we take disciplinary action ourselves? I mean... its not like any of us could have anticipated this... unusual occurrence." Mandy nodded in sympathy with her husband.

"Please, sir. You don't have to do anything this time. We promise to handle this at home." The principal was unsure about this proposal. He sat in his chair for sometime, pondering about what course of action he should take. He turned his head towards Mandy.

"You promise?" he asked.

"Both us." Mandy place her hand in Grim's, both holding other's with a firm grip. Their gaze struck the principal as odd. Both set of eyes looked as though they were living separately from the their hosts, the colors seemed to be changing hue slightly as if they were searching for something.

"Well then," the principal got up from his chair, ignoring the eyes. "I guess I can trust you on this, but understand that any more of this will come with appropriate consequences. Also understand that for security, and legal reasons, I need to hold to the weapons."

"We understand." replied Grim. "Thank you very much." He stood up and shook hands with the principal.

"Likewise." agreed Mandy as she also stood up and shook hands. Without another word, the Katayamas left the office. But instead of walking to the car, they made their way to the room the report mentioned. The room, numbered 304, was roped off. It's door laid on the floor in pieces. "Damn. The report was right, this looks like something came out of Hell."

"Maybe..." Grim said quietly. Checking to see if no one was around, Grim summoned his scythe, a tall black staff with an unimaginably sharp blade. He then entered the room, passing through the tape as if it never existed. Mandy also summoned her scythe, which was of alder wood and slightly curved by the handle and followed Grim inside. The room was like a battlefield, with the desks and walls heavily damaged. "These are claw marks." Grim pointed to with his scythe. "Too rough and blunt."

"Strike one for the report about Minnie's sword," commented Mandy. She moved over to the chalkboard. "Grim, look over here." Grim walked carefully over the debris and examined the chalkboard. The board had some writing on it, but it was not in any mortal language. Instead, the writing was written in some demonic manner, but was peculiar about it was the cybernetic shapes the symbols where in.

"By God's Right Hand!" he yelled as he took his scythe and jammed the hilt into the ground in frustration.

"Grim! What's wrong?" Mandy asked, looking worrying between him and the board.

"It's her, Mandy." Grim's voice was serious and his eyes were now very dark. "I don't know how, but it's her. These markings are unmistakable." Mandy placed a hand over her mouth in shock.

"But... didn't we seal her away?" Mandy stammered. "When she last appeared?" But Grim remained silent, looking intensely at the board. "Grim..." She was now next to him, holding his arm tightly. Grim turned his attention to her, seeing that Mandy's gray eyes where shaking with fear.

"Yes, we did." he spoke at last. "Or at least, I _thought_ we did until today."

"So what do we do?"

"I don't know, love... I don't know..."


	2. Chapter 2

Ch. 1.5 "Explanation"

Many years ago, thirty to be precise, a young girl named Mandy was attending her idiotic friend's party. Well, the party was actually for the friend's sick hamster, Mr. Jiggles, but that's not important. As the 'party' was going on, the Grim Reaper, cold, shadowy and indifferent, appeared and demanded to take the hamster's soul, stating that it was time.

Now Mandy, you see, was evil to the core and accepted it as a fact. She never cared for anyone, nor did she treat anyone as an equal. But when she met Grim, however, everything changed. She offered to wager Mr. Jiggles soul for her soul in a game. To keep it terse, Mandy won and added an extra to the wager. For losing to her, Grim became her Best Friend Forever.

As time passed, Mandy and Grim formed an acceptance of sorts. They treated each other as equals and never degraded the other. Over time, Mandy became less evil whenever alone with Grim and secretly developed feelings for him. Grim also changed over time, his indifference and coldness changing to better traits, though he persisted to remain shadowy.

Three years passed, all of which included bizarre adventures around Earth and it's adjacent realms. From the outside, it was insane, but from Grim and Mandy's point of view, it was like the adventure of a lifetime. But when Mandy turned thirteen, however, this all changed. She found out that Grim was supposed to take her soul two years previous, but chose to not take it. It dawned upon her when a completely natural death undid itself. In her confusion, and frustration, Mandy ordered Grim to leave, claiming that Grim was spineless by sparing her life. It was the only time she had ever treated Grim as something less and she regretted with all the evil she had.

Twelve years passed since then and most of the people Mandy knew died, mainly through events she planned years before and now had control over the world, in secret, of course. While this was her dream, Mandy kept feeling this empty hole in her... this empty feeling was as old as the time passed since Grim left. While feeling particularly empty one day, Grim appeared before her. He did not take his scythe and ripped her soul out, nor did he yell at her for what happened all those years ago. Instead, he told a story.

The story began some four years before the two of them met, about a young boy by the name of Ken Katayama. Ken's story was a tragic one, because he had the unfortunate experience of meeting Death. It was under similar conditions on how Grim met Mandy and cumulated in a game. Ken won, but Death was not honorable and took his soul anyway. The anger Ken felt at being robbed of a life overwhelmed Death and it was subsequently defeated in another game. This time, Ken made sure he won by destroying Death. Upon its destruction, he found that he now possessed the power of Death. Without thinking, Ken returned to his loved ones, but was shocked when they saw him as Death. Losing all hope, he fashioned the title "The Grim Reaper" and performed his new duty.

The immense amount of subjective time he spent hardened his emotions and turned him into a cold being. Then came that faithful day he met Mandy. By that time, Ken had taken the name 'Grim' and was expecting take the hamster's soul as well as Mandy's. But when Grim was about to win the game, he remembered Mandy's condition for losing- Best Friend Forever. At first, he brushed it aside, but upon deeper thought, he concluded that having a friend would be the best thing to ever happen to him since he became Death. So he threw the game away.

After Grim finished his story, he revealed his true self to Mandy. Instead of being a skeleton, like his predecessor, Grim was human, which explained his ability to express emotions. Mandy, relieved by this information, asked for his forgiveness for what happened on her birthday. Grim gave his forgiveness and then went on to explain why he appeared then and there. Grim appeared before Mandy because it was time she left the mortal realm and that he wasn't going to take her soul to do so. Instead, Grim proposed to her, explaining that during their three years together, Grim found someone who looked at his job and side trips not as a chore, but as an adventure. This finally broke Mandy iron curtain and she openly expressed her secret feelings for Grim. She happily accepted and became the immortal wife of Death.

From that day on, Grim and Mandy went on more adventures that went well beyond the boundaries of Earth. Eventually, Mandy learned her husband's art and became a Grim Reaper as well, which further enhanced the adventures they shared and continued to do so to this day…


End file.
